The Strangest Boy Detective Files
by Kaesteranya
Summary: This is my dumping ground for drabbles and shorts that I've done for the SMT: Devil Summoner, Raidou Kuzunoha universe. Will contain gay, and spoilers for various sections of the game.
1. Of cabbages and kings

**Of cabbages and kings**

_This was written for a prompt from Lyn: "Devil Summoner, Narumi and the main, chopsticks and cat food." The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for April 22, 2006._

Narumi knew that behind all the bizarre detective work and the occasional demon summoning/slaying, Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th wasn't a bad kid… he was even kind of cute, in a unique, "I've seen things that'll make your wildest dreams look like chicken shit" sort of way. What was best about him wasn't the work he did, but the fact that when he was around he was a fresh, pretty face in the office. One fresh, pretty face in the office often attracted _other_ fresh, pretty faces in the office — Narumi had come to realize this fact following a recent case involving the kidnapping of a faintly suicidal high school girl. Delusions of suicide aside, Narumi did not have a problem with pretty faces (boys and girls, mind), although he doubted that he would ever get to admit that out loud, or in Raidou's presence.

Still, he had to draw the line at the talking cat and the fact that even with paws it could eat perfectly well with chopsticks.


	2. My life is but under your shadow

**My life is but under your shadow.**

_The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for August 29, 2007._

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Narumi will never tell Raidou this, but he's always found it funny, how the kid never goes anywhere without his hat. He will never tell the young devil summoner how his silent presence is a welcome presence in the dust and bore of his office, how he lazes off a lot more these days not because paperwork bores him, but because there's something nice about leaning back in one's chair, shutting one's eyes and listening to a quiet boy at work, flipping tubes, loading strange-looking bullets.

Raidou will never tell Narumi this, but he's actually all right with the way the man slacks off because he's the one who taught him how to handle a gun correctly, right before he was just about to think that the man was a dead weight in his own office. He will never tell the older man how odd little _haiku_ come to mind, when he looks up at random and sees Narumi haloed against the sunlight streaming in from the window behind his desk.


	3. Walk like a Tengu

**Walk like a Tengu.**

_The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for July 9, 2007._

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For all of the questionable things that Narumi has done in his life, he has enough of a general sense of propriety to know that this particular incident is definitely toeing the line.

"…Hold on a minute here."

"Why?"

He's never seen Raidou smile before, not really; he's always found the kid far too serious for his own good, with the way he prefers black coffee over milk and writes poetry in between demon banishing and paperwork. Now Narumi isn't really sure that Raidou smiling is such a good thing, especially since the boy's on his lap, straddling his hips and busying his hands – thin and gloved and terribly small against his own – with the buttons of Narumi's suit.

They are supposed to be talking about work, not making out.

"Seriously. Gon's watching."

"Gon is always watching."

"But—"

A kiss, with tongue. Suddenly, the only thing Narumi can see are Raidou's eyes. His hat is off, for once, and that only makes the look in those eyes more intense.

"With all due respect, boss: shut up."

Narumi decides that he can forget all about work for the moment. In the meantime, Gon rolls his eyes and lets himself out the door.


	4. Solemn talk of distant rain

**Solemn talk of distant rain.**

_This is probably set in between the first and second games, when Gouto still isn't back. The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for October 17, 2009._

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The silence unsettles Raidou at times, when he's been too long on the road without a human being in sight and only too many miles between where he is and the next stop that might have people in it. It's peculiar, really, because he never really needed company when he was a child and still growing his hair out for the ceremony meant to make him a man – he hadn't, in fact, particularly _liked_ people any more than he had to, because they were harder to understand that _oni _were. Now he's left to wonder what changed, why he puts the fire out and curls up in his cape and finds himself staring out into the darkness of the forest or the roadside for a good long time before he manages to drift off.

The impeccable timing of his demonic companions saves him every time. They weren't supposed to be able to let themselves out of their tubes unless he commands them to and he knows that any other devil summoner would move to discipline their subordinates accordingly for it, but it is an indiscretion that Raidou turns a blind eye to. It never does him any harm, and there's something comforting, really, in the endless chatter, or the almost ridiculous gravity, or even the occasional loving offer to devour him quietly in his sleep.


End file.
